“The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.” (Genesis 2:15)
Saint Augustine of Hippo offers the following commentary on these verses taken from today’s Scripture (optional Readings for Labor Day):
“Although man was placed in paradise so as to work and guard it, that praiseworthy work was not toilsome. For the work in paradise is quite different from the work on the earth to which he was condemned after the sin. The addition “and to guard it” indicated the sort of work it was. For in the tranquility of the happy life, where there is no death, the only work is to guard what you possess.” (Two Books on Genesis Against the Manichaeans, 2)
